Yesterday was the first day of the Willow Creek Arts Conference. I love getting up here. I love the setting, I love the trip (even with the waiting!), I love the change of pace, I love the refreshment, I love the challenges, I love the encouragement, I love the time spent just reflecting...I wish there was more of this type of time. Sometimes there's some tough things brought up as part of a speaker's message and I wish we had more time in between sessions to think and talk and reflect or write about it.
Trey and I were talking about a hymn we sang called 'Come Thou Fount'. He had the 'A-Ha' moment to think about the line "Tune my heart to sing Thy grace". We began to talk about the implications of that line and the correlation to our daily walk. Our hearts have to be in tune with Jesus or it will be like a poorly tuned guitar or piano where the strings aren't in tune with each other. Furthermore, even sometimes there are instruments that are in tune with themselves, but when they join a larger group they are out of tune. Now I could write a book about which is worse, an instrument that is just a few cents flat or sharp or a whole or half step wrong. Neither is good. Neither is acceptable in a band. All must tune to a single note, in America, that note is "A 440". Now for those of you who might read this and have no idea what that means. It's basically a note that vibrates 440 times a second. In other areas of the world they tune to "A 438" or "A 442" or somewhere around there. But the point is a band will all tune to a single note. Do you see the correlation between that and our lives being in tune with Jesus Christ? Our "A 440"?
As this conversation went on, I added my two cents by observing on a string instrument there is a stretching that happens to the strings when they are placed on the instrument. This is our walk with Jesus. When we begin that journey, we are not stretched at all, but as our hearts begin to be more in tune with Jesus we stretch more and more until, at last, when we're taken home and made in perfect tune with our Father and His son Jesus Christ. I'm stretching more and more each day. Sometimes I fall out of tune, but the Master's hand gently turns the tuning peg to bring me back into pitch to His desire for my life.
Willow Creek is great for this type of reflection and spiritual challenge.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Alone in the Orange Grove
Last night was my first night without Tim. He'll be home Friday, but off again on Saturday. This is his first long trip since we've had Mingus, our dog. So naturally, he got to sleep on the bed. Once he settled down at 11ish, I slept fine until about 3:45 when he decided he needed to scratch. Fun times.
What else is going on in Groves-town?
What else is going on in Groves-town?
- We're waiting to schedule our next test for getting pregnant and I hate waiting.
- We're praying Tim's CRV makes it till the new year so my car will be paid off and he can get his Scion.
- Getting ready for Tim to graduate from DBU on 12/19 with his M.A. Worship Leadership.
- VBS is in 2 weeks
- Youth Camp is in July.
- Groves family cruise is in 59 days!
This feels like a Christmas re-cap card. But it's my first post, so it'll get better.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Old Friends...Theology and The Kansas City Airport...or "The Journey to Chicago"
This morning Trey, my brother, and I arrived at Love Field at 5:10 AM, and checked our bags. I remembered what Angela told me about kindness getting farther than those who are rude. So, knowing that, and wanting to help someone else have a good day, we got ready to check out bags. When I got to the front of the line, I found out I was supposed to call ahead and get a confirmation number. So I was directed inside where I was to wait in another line to get a number, so I could go wait in another line to have a bag checked, to wait in another line to get a boarding pass, to wait in another line to board the plane.
We spend alot of our lives waiting. Waiting on someone, waiting on our food, waiting for the sermon to be over, waiting for the light to turn green, waiting to go to the bathroom (well, maybe not guys as much as ladies). I wonder if I do anything productive while I'm waiting? I hope I don't look back one day and regret living my life waiting for something else.
It also helps to keep a flexible, positive attitude when you're traveling, especially on Buddy Passes. Buddy Passes are free stand-by tickets which are great blessings. The catch is if the plane is full, you get kicked off for those who bought tickets. Which is where I find myself now...waiting to board the 9:30 flight to Chicago. Watching a bit of a movie, eating a grossly overpriced Chicken sandwich, and and typing this blog.
When i was in line this morning waiting to get my confirmation number I saw a group of guys I know that are in a band together. They were also going to Chicago for a Radio interview. Their Manager is a guy I grew up with and whom I had not seen in several years. On the surface the last several years he'd been, at least in my eyes, very successful with his craft. I equated career success with life success. This isn't always the case. God showed me this today in the great conversation I had with him. God's been working in his life in ways I really identified with. This realization took place not because someone else told him what to think and what to do, but because of God speaking to HIS heart.
He said something that really struck me, I guess because of it's popular culture reference. Actually he said alot of things that were good, but he talked about Christianity and how so many people today, especially people in church accept Christianity as 'what to do' just like a iphone is 'what to buy' or a type of clothing is 'what to wear'. Alot of people simply 'wear' the clothes of Christianity because it's what's been sold to them through marketing of their families or church.
Don't get me wrong, I think the church has to do a good job of meeting people's needs. But are we teaching them the formulas and lists we've come up with from the Bible at the expense of the passion Christ had and instilled in His disciples? All this got me thinking about my own life. That's what following Christ is about isn't it? Not telling others what they should or shouldn't do, but walking your Journey with Christ and showing people how amazing and awesome Christ is, with your life, not just your words and such.
I wonder how much of my life I spend waiting and not being passionate, passionate about my marriage, my job, my family and most importantly, my walk with Jesus. To understand what it is to have the Creator of the universe, God Almighty living through me?
Donald Miller says in his book Searching for God Knows What: "Can you imagine something like that, what it must feel like in the soul to have God's glory shining through you? With that much gory, that much of God shining through you, you would never have a self-defeating or other-person-bashing though again." In other words, your life would be passionate.
I eventually made it to Chicago, met back up with Trey, got our rental car and I am now sitting in a Coffee shop concluding this post. It's amazing the encounters God sets up as movements of His mighty symphony called life, I'm glad I'm in the orchestra...
I want to play passionately.
We spend alot of our lives waiting. Waiting on someone, waiting on our food, waiting for the sermon to be over, waiting for the light to turn green, waiting to go to the bathroom (well, maybe not guys as much as ladies). I wonder if I do anything productive while I'm waiting? I hope I don't look back one day and regret living my life waiting for something else.
It also helps to keep a flexible, positive attitude when you're traveling, especially on Buddy Passes. Buddy Passes are free stand-by tickets which are great blessings. The catch is if the plane is full, you get kicked off for those who bought tickets. Which is where I find myself now...waiting to board the 9:30 flight to Chicago. Watching a bit of a movie, eating a grossly overpriced Chicken sandwich, and and typing this blog.
When i was in line this morning waiting to get my confirmation number I saw a group of guys I know that are in a band together. They were also going to Chicago for a Radio interview. Their Manager is a guy I grew up with and whom I had not seen in several years. On the surface the last several years he'd been, at least in my eyes, very successful with his craft. I equated career success with life success. This isn't always the case. God showed me this today in the great conversation I had with him. God's been working in his life in ways I really identified with. This realization took place not because someone else told him what to think and what to do, but because of God speaking to HIS heart.
He said something that really struck me, I guess because of it's popular culture reference. Actually he said alot of things that were good, but he talked about Christianity and how so many people today, especially people in church accept Christianity as 'what to do' just like a iphone is 'what to buy' or a type of clothing is 'what to wear'. Alot of people simply 'wear' the clothes of Christianity because it's what's been sold to them through marketing of their families or church.
Don't get me wrong, I think the church has to do a good job of meeting people's needs. But are we teaching them the formulas and lists we've come up with from the Bible at the expense of the passion Christ had and instilled in His disciples? All this got me thinking about my own life. That's what following Christ is about isn't it? Not telling others what they should or shouldn't do, but walking your Journey with Christ and showing people how amazing and awesome Christ is, with your life, not just your words and such.
I wonder how much of my life I spend waiting and not being passionate, passionate about my marriage, my job, my family and most importantly, my walk with Jesus. To understand what it is to have the Creator of the universe, God Almighty living through me?
Donald Miller says in his book Searching for God Knows What: "Can you imagine something like that, what it must feel like in the soul to have God's glory shining through you? With that much gory, that much of God shining through you, you would never have a self-defeating or other-person-bashing though again." In other words, your life would be passionate.
I eventually made it to Chicago, met back up with Trey, got our rental car and I am now sitting in a Coffee shop concluding this post. It's amazing the encounters God sets up as movements of His mighty symphony called life, I'm glad I'm in the orchestra...
I want to play passionately.
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